Friday night’s loss for the Jays was a combination of one inning of shaky defense and facing pitching that was just good enough to stop their hitting.

Aaron Laffey pitched well in his six innings of work even though he gave up four runs, three of them earned, on eight hits. With his team up by a run, Laffey gave up a double and two singles to the White Sox to start of the home half of the fifth. After throwing errors by Rajai Davis and Brett Lawrie, Chicago scored twice, had a runner on second with no one out. The Sox would score again before Laffey got Paul Konerko to lineout to third.

Adam Lind started the scoring for the Jays with an opposite field homerun in the top of the second. It was his fourth homerun since returning from Las Vegas, and the second he hit to the opposite field. Lind is showing that his stint in the desert wasn’t in vain. He seems freer in movement at the plate that so far is offering hope that he could still return this season to something resembling his Silver Slugger status of 2009. Toronto knows they’ll greatly benefit from any return to his former self from Lind, adding more depth and a left-handed bat to the heart of the order.

The Jays manufactured a run in the top of the ninth, as Edwin Encarnacion worked a leadoff walk, would advance to third on a single by Lind, and score on a sacrifice fly to centre by Yunel Escobar. The comeback would fall short, as Davis grounded into a double play to end the game, with the final score of 4-2 White Sox. Toronto’s 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and five runners left on base added to the team’s shortcomings of the night and prevented them from losing their second game in a row.

Ricky Romero will aim for his ninth win on Saturday. It will be his last chance to regain some of his elusive fastball control before the All-Star Break. The Jays’ would love if Romero could come away from his 18th start of the season with something positive. If the team hopes to remain in contention after the break, at least a little more consistency from their ace would go a long way. But fans and teammates alike have faith that Romero will bounce back and dominate like he has previously.

Game time is set for 4:10pm EST. Gavin Floyd (6-8) will take the mound for the White Sox.

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Written by Amanda Tallon
Self-professed baseball nerd, blogger, writer, tweeter, learning addict and once colour commentator. Celebrating over twenty years of love with the Toronto Blue Jays and the beautiful game of baseball. I also contribute to thegalsgotgame.com, a sports website for business women by women.